Silence descended over forest again. The Elvish Whisperer stared at Rhania with disgust as her unseen partner kept the blade pressed against her neck. She winced as the sword’s pressure increased. Her eyes went wide when she felt something warm trickle down her neck.

“I shall ask only once more,” the unseen voice warned. “What are you?”

It felt like needles were stabbing Rhania’s heart when she understood the reason for the elves’ disgust. “My father was human, and my mother was First Born!”

“What was her name?” the voice demanded.

“Ilharia,” Rhania choked. “She did not tell me which tribe she was from, only that she was a priestess of Ergon.”

There was a brief silence, and the Whisperer’s look turned to one of pity. “Did your father force himself upon her?”

Rhania shook her head and the swordsman’s face contorted into disgust once more. “She lay with him willingly?”

“I think so,” Rhania said as a tear rolled down her eye. Her mother hadn’t been held against her will as far as she could tell, but she knew that she resented birthing her.

“That’s enough, Ildin,” the Whisperer said. “The power of Ergon flows through her. She is not the one we are hunting.”

The pressure on the sword relaxed slightly, but the blade did not move from her neck. “What are you doing here?” the unseen voice asked.

“I am an Arbiter of Ildurin,” she said. “A human from Venton was found dead in the river with two of your arrows in his back. I am here to mediate on their behalf.”

“You must be mistaken,” Ildin scoffed. “None of our archers are such poor marksmen that they would need two arrows to kill a human. Your master, Vendar, should know that much.”

“He does,” Rhania said. “However, that doesn’t change the fact that someone was killed in these forests. If it wasn’t your people, it is in your interests to find out who.”

“She has a point,” the Whisperer said. “We should take her to Peravo. He will want to see her.”

“Oh, I’m sure he will.” There was a hint of amusement in Ildin’s voice as he withdrew the blade from Rhania’s neck.

She turned around to see a muscular elf clad in silver armour. His pale hair was short, and a metal circlet protected his head. He carried a long, slender sword in his right hand and a shorter parrying sword was sheathed at his belt.

“Here, let me tend to that,” the Whisperer said.

She stepped forward and Rhania allowed her to place a hand on her neck. She muttered a brief prayer, and the cut disappeared rapidly.

“I apologize for his rough treatment, but tensions are high,” she said. “My name is Urdria.”

“I am Rhania.”

Urdria nodded briefly. “Will you come with us? Our chieftain will want to see you.”

Rhania nodded enthusiastically. “You honour me.”

“Now, Urdria?” Ildin asked sourly in elvish. “We were sent here to…”

The swordsman fell silent when Uldria glared at him. “Yes, we’ve been getting nowhere with our search.”

Indignance flared behind Ildin’s eyes for a moment but at length, he shrugged his shoulders. “You heard the Whisperer, fall in.”

Rhania jumped as a pair of elves seemed to drop out of thin air onto the ground next to Ildin. They were armed with venwood bows and their quivers held the same elven arrows that had been pulled out of Torance’s back.

“Your woodcraft lacks subtlety,” Ildin snapped. “I could hear you climbing that tree from a mile away.”

“My apologies, Captain,” one of the elves said as he bowed his head low.

“Tell me, how old are you?” Uldria asked as she led Rhania through the forest.

“I am a child of the current age,” Rhania replied, using the reckoning of the elves. Years held little meaning to those who measured their age in aeons.

Uldria’s eyes widened. “I haven’t heard of an elf birth in three Ages.”

“Well she hardly counts, does she?” Ildin snorted and ignored the dirty look Uldria gave him. “An elf laying willingly with a human, and a Priestess no less! I suppose we can no longer make fun of humans for bedding their livestock.”

“Mind your words Ildin!” Uldria snapped.

“You said you were hunting for someone?” Rhania ventured, wanting to steer the conversation away from her lineage.

Uldria sighed before replying. “There have been numerous incursions along our southern border. They were mostly probes and we didn’t take it seriously until we lost contact with a scout. Then, a few days later, that human was killed.”

“You are offering sensitive information to an outsider, Uldria!” Ildin hissed.

Rhania jumped. The other elves had been walking so silently that she had forgotten they were there. She felt like a wild boar charging through the forest in comparison to their silent, graceful movements.

“She has been touched by Ergon,” Uldria said. “We can trust her.”

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“I can help,” she offered. She felt like she was living a dream, walking amongst the pure white trees, magic heavy in the air and talking to trueborn elves who had not been sullied by human culture.

“That is for the chieftain to decide, and no one else,” Ildin said flatly in Ildruni as he looked at her with disdain. The other two elves nodded in agreement with the swordsman.

He then set his gaze on Rhania. “This has troubled me since I first laid eyes on you. You carry both a sword and a bow. Tell me, which is your chosen weapon?”

There was a time when Rhania would have said the bow without hesitation, but instead, she replied. “Both.”

The three elves chuckled amongst themselves, and the blood rushed to Rhania’s face. At length, Ildin shook his head. “It seems you have inherited your father’s greed.”

Rhania could only give him a confused look. At length, Uldria spoke. “Elf warriors devote their entire lives to learning a single weapon so that they may one day be called a master in their chosen field.”

That didn’t seem very efficient, but Rhania kept her opinion to herself. Her first meeting with ‘true’ elves had been disappointing so far and she was beginning to feel a pit of despair form in her heart. She had always felt as though she didn’t belong in the human world. Her Captain had long warned her against placing hope in finding a place amongst her mother’s people and now it was clear why.

“Perhaps these elves had a unique way of thinking,” she thought stubbornly to herself and decided to find out more about where they lived.

“How many elves live are there in your tribe?” she ventured.

“Six hundred and seventy six,” Uldria replied.

“Galthor passed on in the long winter,” Ildin pointed out. “And Aldarin…”

“That’s right, he did, didn’t he?” Uldria said, her voice heavy with melancholy. “However, we must believe your brother is still alive. Six hundred and seventy five are all that remain of our tribe.”

She glanced at Rhania and managed a wan smile. “Slowly but surely, our people are dying off. It is heartening to see a young one after all this time.”

“She’s not one of us,” Ildin protested.

Uldria whirled around to confront the swordsman. “She is touched by the Gods. Perhaps this is the future Ergon has laid out for us.”

Ildin’s lips curled into a sneer and Uldria drew herself closer to him until they were standing almost nose to nose. “I should remind you now that I will not overlook any blasphemy escaping those lips. Ranger Captain or not, I will see that you spend a century in exile.”

Ildin bristled but at length backed down. “I was not about to blaspheme. I just find it hard to believe that the fate of our people is to become mongrels. If you’ll excuse me, I think it prudent I secure our path. There is danger lurking in these woods, after all.”

The swordsman then bowed before marching ahead while the two archers disappeared into the trees. Uldria let out a long, drawn out sigh before offering Rhania a tired smile.

“I apologize about him. It is not often that we meet an outsider. Especially in recent times.”

“Don’t apologize. I’m used to it,” Rhania said. “You should see the looks humans give me.”

“It must be difficult being the child of two worlds,” Uldria remarked sympathetically. “And not feeling like you belong to either.”

Rhania felt her lip tremble and bit it.

“I sense the touch of more than one Divinity in you,” Uldria remarked after a moment’s silence. “I take it you also possess Vilgo’s favour?”

Rhania looked at her blankly before the name clicked. “Oh, you mean Aertani?”

Uldria blinked. “Oh yes, I suppose that’s what the humans call him now.”

“I do,” Rhania said.

“Was your father a priest, perchance?” Uldria ventured.

Rhania nodded. “He was, though I don’t know much about him. My mother found it difficult to speak of him.”

“That is interesting, as your father’s people would say,” Uldria said.

Before Rhania could press her on the matter, she had to stop herself from walking into Ildin, who had come to an abrupt halt.

“The mist has formed to the east,” he said, looking in that direction.

“Something is there,” Uldria remarked.

“Yes, I can tell that much,” Ildin snapped. “It can’t be the humans. We are too far from the river.”

“It could be our quarry,” Uldria murmured.

“Perhaps you could dispel the mists,” Ildin suggested. “It is difficult for us to hunt in them.”

“You warriors need to get it through your thick skulls that this enchantment cannot simply be dispelled and recast on a whim,” Uldria said testily.

“And as we have said, hunting whatever is stalking our southern borders will be nigh on impossible in this soup,” Ildin hissed. “All we ask is that you stop the enchantment until we’ve caught the culprit. Then we can forget this distraction and return our focus to the north!”

“It will take five days for a new enchantment to take hold!” Uldria shot back. “That’s five days our Whisperers will be distracted from the northern front and five days our neighbours to the south will be free to encroach in our lands!”

“The three of us will keep that lot out of our lands for five days,” Ildin said confidently. “Easily.”

“Not without bloodshed,” Rhania warned, curious about what was happening to the north.

“Stay out of this, half breed,” Ildin said. “I don’t care if you are touched by Ergon or not, you have no right to comment on our affairs.”

“The ones we seek are close,” Uldria interjected ass he pricked her ears and looked out into the distance. “This bickering is not productive.”

“Indeed, let us finish this hunt and bring this distraction to a close,” Ildin said.

Without saying another word, the swordsman began walking in the direction of the mists. Rhania and Uldria were close behind him. As for the archers, Rhania could still not tell where they were. Ildin slowed his pace as they plunged into the mists that were so thick that she could scarcely see Uldria who was an arm’s length away.

The giggling of children came out of the mists, sending a shudder down Rhania’s spine. Before she could turn to face it, she felt an arrow fly past her ear. Moments later, there was a dull thud in the distance as it found its mark. The giggling ceased. Next to her, she could feel Uldria reach out into the mists with her senses.

“They are still here,” she warned. “Five of them.”

“Guide us,” Ildin whispered.

“Two points to the left of where I am standing. A hundred yards,” she whispered back.

Another arrow flew between Uldria and Rhania and there was another dull thud as the creature it struck died noiselessly. Curious, Rhania reached out with her senses and felt the flow of magic around her. They highlighted four shapes in the distance, closing rapidly.

“One point to the right, eighty yards,” she whispered.

As another arrow flew out, Rhania sensed one of the figures come to a halt and draw something back. It appeared to be aiming right at…

“Look out!” she cried as she tackled Uldria to the ground. Moments later, one of the archers grunted as an arrow struck him.

“They are tracking your voice,” Rhania hissed as she dragged Uldria away as quietly as she could.

As an arrow landed next to her, Rhania readied her bow and sharpened her senses before firing off a shot. However, using the flow of magic to locate her target instead of her eyes threw her aim off, causing her to miss her target by an arm’s length. Moments later, the unseen assailant fell backwards as one of the elven archers found his mark.

However, the remaining two figures were now less than five yards away. Rhania cast her bow down and drew her sword.

“Ildin, they are here!” Rhania cried as she swung her sword.

Her blow cut through the air as she missed her target completely. Moments later, she felt something hard crash into her midsection, winding her. As she fell backwards, a weight fell on her. She could feel putrid breath on her face. Her senses told her the creature had its weapon raised over its head as it poised itself to finish her off. Instead of bringing its weapon down on her head, it collapsed on her, covering Rhania in a foul black liquid.

With the creatures dead, the mists began to recede. Rhania wiped the viscera from her face and looked up to find Ildin glaring at her as he stood over her prone form.

“It doesn’t make sense to scream at the top of your lungs when you know your enemy is using sound to find you, does it?” he asked caustically.